The 'revelations' hit me even harder, the second time around....
I purchased two copies, the version copyrighted 1983 and the version copyrighted 2004. I kept the old version [1983] and just donated the 2004 copy to my local library - with a quick warning that 'cult' members may be inclined to steal the exposé. I decided to read it again to try to visualize how a "worldly" person who is unacquainted with the JWs would view the book...
In reading the book again, I am more forcefully struck by the blatant contradictions between the 'official' stance of the Watchtower Society and their 'behind-the-scenes' behavior...
Chapters 3 & 4 - "Governing Body" and "Internal Upheaval and Restructure" - contain some eye-popping material... The earlier portion of Chapter 3 touches on the intrusive regulation of sexual practices between husband and wife [I'll bet any worldly person reading that would find that chilling, to say the least...], and then goes into the power struggles between Russell's followers and Rutherford's ousting of said followers during his successful bid for control.
Very revealing... I was also struck by the fact that the WTBTS was a religion with a SINGLE MAN leading it, until the very END of Nathan Knorr's period of leadership, DESPITE the claims of the Watchtower magazine that "God's Organization" was being run by a "Governing Body" of spiritual "caretakers" for several years PRIOR to the actual existence of said "Governing Body"!!!
As Ray Franz states, page 65 of 1983 version: "[Quote from 12/15/71 Watchtower...]: "Thus, too, even though there were no apostles of christ on hand in the nineteenth century, God's holy spirit must have been operative toward the formation of the governing body for his anoited remnant ... The facts speak for themselves. There came on the scene a body of anointed Christians who accepted and undertook the responsibilities of governing the affairs of Jehovah's dedicated, baptized, anointed people... Facts speak louder than words. The governing body is there. Thankfully Jehovah's Christian witnesses know and assert that this is no one-man religious organization, but that it has a governing body of spirit-anointed Christians..." [end quote from 12/15/71 Watchtower...]
But, Ray Franz goes on to point out [pages 65 - 66...]: "Unfortunately the picture presented simply was not true. The facts, already presented from the Watch Tower Society's own approved publications and from statements of Directors, clearly show there was no governing body in any factual sense in the nineteenth century during Russell's presidency, none in the twentieth century during Rutherford's presidency, and there had been none in the sense described in this same Watchtower article during Knorr's presidency. It was an impressive-sounding picture presented but it was illusory, fictional. The fact is that a monarchical arrangement prevailed from the very inception of the organization... That the first president was benign, the next stern and autocratic, and the third very business-like, in no way alters the fact that each of the three presidents exercised monarchical authority..."
And the establishment of said "Governing Body" was strongly resisted by both Nathan Knorr and Fred Franz, even AFTER President Knorr introduced a motion that the "Governing Body take over responsibility of looking after the work...and assume the responsibilities set out in the Charter of the Pennsylvania corporation..." [page 72...]
His comments regarding the young men serving at Bethel are most telling, too... [pages 69 - 70...] "At that time anyone applying for service at headquarters ("Bethel Service") had to agree to stay a minimum of four years... When at the meal tables, I often asked the person next to me, "How long have you been here?" In the ten years I had by now spent at headquarters I had never heard one of these young men respond by saying in round figures, "About a year" or "about two years". Invariably the answer was, "One and seven", "two and five", "three and one", and so forth, always giving the year or years and the exact number of months. I could not help but think of the way men serving a prison sentence often follow a similar practice of marking off time."
Fascinating...
Zid 